I had several soldiers with ID info tattooed on their torso. They said it was so their body could be identified after they were dead. I then showed them some photos of long dead bodies and they realized it just might not work too well.

My watch, if I am wearing it, I seem to less and less of that since retired, is on my left wrist, don't want anything else there. So if you find me bleeding on your boots, look on the dogtag chain, you will find a red tag with my important stuff embossed on it...

EXCELLENT guess, and very close.

Okay, we'll check. A nice distinctive red "dog" tag is another good choice for a guy. check outthis and similar sruff, though: http://www.abs.net/~idtech/mediband.htm

Jeff

Okay so ya' gonna leave me hanging????

What about those rare souls among us who have no medical conditions? Why not have a med alert that says the attached body is good to go?

(also: Why don't posters put URLs in hotlinks by using the tools on the reply page, rather than posting a link address as text we need to cut and paste?)

That thing is nice, but I don't wear a watch much anymore, always wear the chain, it has a spare car and house key on it, just in case...

American ambulances virtually always put the patient stretcher on the left or center-left, and the crew bench on the right. Patients, barring special circumstances, are transported headfirst and face up. Likewise, really sharp ER nurses and docs learn to approach patient beds on the patients' typically weak side, for various reasons. Anything they do, like take your pulse or blood pressure, or start an IV, is more likely going to direct attention to your left arm, where the medic-alert can be noticed.

It is unlikely that we would go digging through your purse or wallet for medical information. Medical alert bracelets are good, as are necklaces, especially those that stand out and don't try to look like jewelry. The latter are sometimes missed. Florida has a program that lets you voluntarily list 2 emergency contacts keyed to your DL number, and rapidly available to law enforcement.

Jeff

Technology moves forward quickly, and typing blood is faster and can be done all the way forward now. It was not always that way. In the not so distant past, the blood type on your dog tags was critical, and was frequently inspected against databases maintained by unit medics to verify accuracy. It is not necessary any longer. It is not a cool guy thing, it was necessary not so long ago.

There is this thing too. You have to hope that someone will look thru your wallet/purse soon after treatment starts tho...